Many Happy Returns
by Irene Moriarty xx
Summary: [Post TLD] Sherlock and his friends are celebrating his birthday, and he gets an unexpected visit from a familiar face. One-shot.


"Cake?" John asked, pulling on his jacket. Sherlock reached for his coat and flipped the collar up, before turning around to face John.

"Cake," he agreed, with a small nod, "Oh, um..." Suddenly he bent down and started rummaging around in the cabinet by the door, searching for something.

"What? What is it?" John craned his neck over to see what Sherlock was looking for, "What's wrong?"

Sherlock stood up, pulling his deerstalker over his messy curls, a grin on his face.

John laughed, "Seriously?"

In all seriousness, Sherlock replied, "I'm Sherlock Holmes, I wear the damn hat." With that, he flung open the door and stepped out onto the pavement, "Isn't that right, Mary?"

ooOoo

"Happy Birthday dear Sherlock, happy birthday to you!" Sherlock acknowledged them with a small smile on his face, and then leaned over the table to blow out the single candle on the tiny cake. Everyone applauded as they dug into their own.

"What did you wish for, Sherlock?" John asked, mouth full with strawberry shortcake. Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"It's irrational to make a wish on a birthday candle, there's no evidence that any of them actually come true." Sherlock scoffed, digging into his honey-glazed chocolate cake.

"Yeah, but it's symbolic, mate," Lestrade replied, laughing.

"Well," Sherlock thought for a moment, "if I had to make a wish it would probably be to switch signature hats. I've only been wearing this one for an hour and I'm starting to hate it. Again." Everyone chuckled at this, and Sherlock gave another lopsided grin.

"Many happy returns, Sherlock," Molly raised her glass to him, "to Sherlock's willingness to wear his deerstalker hat outdoors!" There was a melodic clinking sound as Molly, Mrs. Hudson, John and Lestrade bumped their glasses into each other. They continued talking long after the cakes had been finished, and it was only when Sherlock's phone went off that the conversation was interrupted.

"Oh, excuse me," Sherlock stood up, pulling his phone out of his pocket. There was one new message, from Irene Adler: _Phone booth._

Sherlock pulled his coat on, "I'll be right back. Need some fresh air," he pushed the door open and walked down the street to the nearest red box. Inside was a woman, and although he couldn't see her face, he knew exactly who it was.

"Miss Adler." Sherlock sidled into the phone booth and quickly shut the door behind him. Irene turned her face towards his, and he was startled to see that it was considerably thinner and more gaunt, yet her eyes still contained the same playful energy as it had all those years ago.

"Sherlock," she greeted him, stroking two nail-polish coated fingernails across his face, "I've been thinking of you."

Sherlock replied, "I've been thinking of you too." When she didn't say anything, he continued on. "Why did you come all the way here? You could've texted me—and you did."

Irene smiled and winked at him, "Texts are meaningless. So inexpressive, so impersonal. You ask why I am here? Perhaps...I missed you. We had lots of fun together, didn't we?"

Sherlock considered this, "If you consider outrunning American agents over a camera-phone and disrupting an international anti-terrorist operation, then I suppose we did have fun."

"I consider lots of things fun," Irene leaned forward, whispering in his ear, "Happy birthday, Mr. Holmes." She tilted her face down and placed a delicate kiss on his cheek, before pushing the door open and disappearing into the traffic.

ooOoo

"Oh, hey, Sherlock," John waved as Sherlock came back into the restaurant, "why do you have lipstick on your face?"

"Just ran into an old friend, that's all." Sherlock brushed him off with a warning look on his face. It wasn't entirely untrue. Irene Adler certainly was an old friend—a very dear old friend.

 **Author Note:**

 **Happy birthday, Sherlock! January 6th has been largely accepted by the fandom as his birthdate, so I decided to write a little something about it. I just rewatched TLD, and the ending scene where they go out for birthday cake was simply too perfect. It was originally going to be Sherlolly, but I've written a lot of those, so I switched to Adlock.** **I think Irene and Sherlock would make a crazy but cute couple. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments!**

 **-Irene xx**


End file.
